Senior Director of Communications
Michele Ruehs Steinbuch has served in various capacities at the American Council on Germany since May 1999 and is currently Senior Director of Communications. In addition, she serves as Board Liaison and supervises interns.
Ms. Steinbuch writes or edits organizational content, including annual reports and program reports, while overseeing social media and a comprehensive website relaunch. She has been honored to hold an array of portfolios at the ACG through the years, including coordinating the corporate membership program and the McCloy Awards Dinner; overseeing fellowships and the Warburg Chapters; and supporting the American-German Young Leaders Conference.
She previously worked at the International Conflict Resolution Program, now the Center for International Conflict Resolution, at Columbia University. Earlier, she served as a reporter covering the minorities beat and as an editor at publications including what is now The Journal News in White Plains, New York.
Her passion for Germany began during her childhood in the Midwest, growing up in the shadow of the trunks her grandfather brought from Germany through Ellis Island. This passion was cemented during a student trip to Berlin amid the fall of the Wall. She subsequently studied abroad in Mayen and had internships at Möbel Unger in Goslar and in the education branch at Friedensdorf (Peace Village) International near Oberhausen, working with children who had been injured during conflict.
She holds a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, with a specialization in human rights and conflict resolution, and a bachelor’s degree in German and journalism from Michigan State University’s Honors College. She also is a certified teacher of English as a Second Language.
Email: msteinbuch@acgusa.org